Angler registry raises questions

PORTSMOUTH — A proposal made by the National Marine Fisheries Service would require recreational anglers to register with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Karen Dandurant

PORTSMOUTH — A proposal made by the National Marine Fisheries Service would require recreational anglers to register with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

To a lesser extent than commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen who fish in federal waters would be required to register with NOAA to provide personal identification information.

The rule would begin in January 2009. Anglers who fish in federal waters (between three and 200 miles offshore) or who may catch fish such as salmon, striped bass, American shad, hickory shad, river herring, or rainbow smelt in tidal waters would be required to register.

Survey information obtained from the anglers would be used by the NMFS, a branch of NOAA, to learn more about things like how many times a year a person goes fishing and how many and what types of fish are caught.

The data collected will be used to determine how recreational fishermen affect fishing stocks.

The one exception would be chartered fishing trips. If the charter boat is licensed and permitted, the passengers would not need to be registered because the boat captain has to report the catch information.

"It's all part of an effort under way at NOAA to improve the quality of our saltwater fishing data collection," said Gordon Colvin, an NMFS fishery biologist. "We've been doing surveys on recreational fishing catch, but a couple of years ago there was criticism about the quality of the data. A scientific review was done, and that panel made an extensive series of recommendations."

Colvin said the panel found the method used by most states to collect recreational data "hideously inefficient."

"Most based their data collection on a random selection of households using the telephone directory," Colvin said. "So Congress included a requirement for the registry when they reauthorized the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act at the beginning of 2007."

Rye resident Ritchie White is a recreational fisherman who also sits on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which has regulatory authority over migratory species normally found in state waters.

White said he favors the registry but is not so happy with the prospect of a fee. Colvin said the fee would not kick in until 2011.

"From a recreational angler standpoint, I am strongly in favor of the data this will generate, because right now we have no way to know who is fishing and when," White said. "We'll have much better data about harvesting fish. It's important in fishery management to have accurate data, so it's sorely needed."

Colvin said states can be exempt from a federal fee if they can provide their own complete lists of anglers.

"We'd rather work with the states," Colvin said. "Then there would be no federal fee, no federal license. In New Hampshire, there's no saltwater fishing license yet, so no complete lists."

White said no one wants to spend more to go fishing, but it's going to happen.

"Right now, saltwater fishing is a right," White said. "But once you license or permit, that right can be taken away. ... A big concern in New Hampshire is, will it be reciprocal with Maine and Massachusetts? You don't go far out here before you're in Maine or Mass. If you need to get three licenses, at maybe $25 each, it gets expensive."

Doug Grout, Chief of the Marines Fisheries Division for New Hampshire Fish and Game, said the division favors the registry and the better data it would provide.

"Right now, we interview at boat ramps and jetties to see what (fishermen) caught," said Grout. "We do random calls. Just in New Hampshire, we make about 4,500 phone calls a year, and from those calls are only getting about 200 people who say they fish. That's a pretty small number, so we know this will improve data collection. The reason it's important is, if harvest estimates are too high, we may be imposing unnecessary restrictions. If we're too low, it may result in overfishing."

The New Hampshire Coastal Program administers the coastal zone management act for the federal provision.

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